Updated 3:42pm: From @kevinodandc Amerks refute a newspaper report out of Hamilton that says D-man Drew Schiestel will miss 4-6 wks with MCL sprain. The Amerks say not true.

He also tweeted that the team is simply reporting it as a “lower body injury” and will be evaluated again later in the week.

We know it’s a knee injury, sounds like the time frame is in question. Obviously they’re hoping it’s not as long as 4-6 weeks.

Original story:

After only one game the Amerks have their first injury that will miss an extended number of games. Defenseman Drew Scheistel sprained his MCL in his left knee late in the game on Saturday against the Hamilton Bulldogs and will miss 4-6 weeks.

This was Schiestel’s first regular season game after blowing out his right knee last January with the Portland Pirates.

Schiestel is considered a top prospect, here’s hoping he can get rid of these knee demons to prove himself.

After making an innocuous pass, he got bumped near his blue line. Not hammered. Not flattened. Just got involved in one of those thousand-times-a-game collisions.

Problem was, his toe was caught in the kind of malleable ice you get early in the season when temperatures outside are more reminiscent of the middle of summer than the onset of fall and the building isn’t deeply chilled.

“The ice is just so soft, the ruts are unbelievable,” he says. “There’s no way your skate’s coming out of it.”

As he twisted, his knee didn’t. Or maybe it was the other way around. Either way, something bent awkwardly, his kneecap slid out of place and a somewhat familiar pain kicked in.

When he got to the medical room, he sat quietly waiting for some word as the Dogs’ team doctor checked him out. Mainly hoping and praying to not hear the letters ACL.

He didn’t. That’s the good news. That, and the fact that it’s his left knee. The one that wasn’t already repaired once. The bad? It’s a second-degree sprain of the MCL. Even though surgery likely isn’t necessary, he’ll be sidelined for four weeks, maybe six.